Room 12 of 20
Alma 7:10
Born at Jerusalem
Verse
And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.
Why they use it
They say Alma got the birthplace wrong: Jerusalem, not Bethlehem — so the book is fake.
Why they are wrong
He said the land of Jerusalem — not the city. Bethlehem sits in that land.
Translation note
English of the plates: at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers
region / country — not the walled city
Scripture Central and FAIR: Alma spoke of the land, not the town. Bethlehem is about 5–6 miles south. That is in the land.
The room (aka the context)
- Who wrote it
- Alma, recorded on plates; Mormon abridging.
- Who is in the room
- The people of Gideon, a continent away from Judah.
- Who is speaking
- Alma, prophesying Christ’s birth.
- What is going on
- A Nephite high priest names the old country the way his people know it: the land of Jerusalem. Bethlehem is a village a few miles out. From Zarahemla you do not name the suburb. You name the land.
- What they already believe
- Christ will be born of Mary in the land their fathers left.
- How they would hear these words
- “At Jerusalem which is the *land*.” Alma already talks like 1 Nephi 1:4 — Lehi dwelt at Jerusalem. The Amarna letters do the same: “land of Jerusalem.” Alexander Campbell laughed in 1831. The ancients would not.
Clarifying verse
1 Nephi 1:4
For it came to pass in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, (my father, Lehi, having dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days); and in that same year there came many prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the great city Jerusalem must be destroyed.
The book already uses “at Jerusalem” for the land Lehi lived in. Alma is speaking that dialect. FAIR and Scripture Central both land here.
Gal1:8 topic →Mark it
Tap when you can say the verse out loud.